Dr. H. H. Rowley says—
This volume of papers is of unusual interest. It deals with a number of major contemporary issues in biblical studies, followed in some cases by responses by other contributors. The authors are scholars of international repute, drawn from Europe and America and representing different approaches. The Old Testament subjects dealt with are method in the study of Old Testament history, the role of the cult in Israel, the prophetic office, apocalyptic and history, and archaeology and the future of biblical study. No-one who would be abreast of present-day scholarship should neglect this important volume.
FOREWORD
The Society of Biblical Literature and Exegesis was born in 1880. On January 2nd of that year eight scholars gathered in the study of Professor Philip Schaff at 42 Bible House, New York, New York, and resolved to take steps to form the Society "for the purpose of promoting a thorough study of the Scriptures by the reading and discussion of original papers." The first meeting of the Society was held on June 4th and 5th in the study of the Reverend E. A. Washburn at 103 East Twenty-first Street, New York, with eighteen members present. Thirty-three persons had accepted invitations to membership. In the course of three sessions the constitution and bylaws were adopted, officers were elected, and six papers were read and discussed, seven being held over for presentation at later meetings. The first paper was read by Philip Schaff under the title, "The Pentecostal and the Corinthian Glossalalia."
The 100th meeting of the organization—known officially as The Society of Biblical Literature since 1962—was held in New York, December 28-30, 1964. Union Theological Seminary served as host, and most of the sessions were held in the spacious assembly halls of The Riverside Church. Nearly a thousand persons were in attendance, and the Society now had a total of 2,185 members. This was the 100th meeting, but not the 100th year of the Society. From the first year through 1896 it held semiannual meetings, and since that time has met only once every year.
The present volume contains all the papers read at the 100th meeting and at the meeting of the American Textual Criticism Seminar, a daughter organization, which was held immediately following the close of the Society's meeting. The only paper not published here is the presidential address, delivered by Frederick V. Winnett of Toronto University on "Re-Examining the Foundations." His address was published in the March, 1965 issue of the Journal of Biblical Literature, pages 1-19. The chapters of the present volume, indicated by roman numerals, correspond to the sessions of the meeting. The order of the chapters does not, however, follow the order of the successive sessions, but has been arranged to follow a roughly chronological order of the biblical topics.
At the banquet of the Society on the evening of December 29th, Douglas M. Knight, President of Duke University, delivered an address on "Literature, Faith and the Bible." Henry J. Cadbury, a member since 1911 and Secretary for many years, spoke on the history of the Society, giving many delightful personal reminiscences.
Those who read papers on the program of the 100th meeting were invited by the program committee to write on specified topics, but were given much freedom in their writing. The topics were chosen with a view to covering the principal problems and concerns of current biblical scholarship, with a backward look to the past two or three generations of scholarship and a forward look to the immediate future. Some participants chose to survey research of the past with a statement of the problems as they now appear to stand; others preferred to treat one or two detailed subjects in depth; some attempted to anticipate the course of study in the biblical field in the years lying ahead. Readers will see that the papers do not conform to fixed patterns laid down in advance, and they will find varying points of view expressed with vigor.
In discussing their topics the authors often deal with the problem of method in biblical study. Various problems associated with history, its meaning and its importance, come again and again into the discussions. While the committee sought to cover the most important problems of current scholarship, some of the prominent concerns of the present are not specifically treated in separate papers—for example, the Qumran materials and form criticism. Yet these receive treatment or reference in several papers. Taken as a whole the papers should give the reader a representative cross section of biblical scholarship of the present and the recent past. It is not a parochial scholarship. The papers herein were written by scholars from many parts of the world, and from Protestant, Roman Catholic, and Jewish circles. Thus the scholarship of these pages is both interfaith and international—ecumenical in the broadest sense. Perhaps the most amazing conclusion to which some readers will come is that the agreements among the writers outnumber their disagreements.
The committee which planned the program over the course of two years consisted of the following: Samuel Sandmel, provost of Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, chairman; John L. Mc-Kenzie, S.J., of Loyola University, Chicago; and the undersigned. The late Kendrick Grobel of Vanderbilt University, Executive Secretary of the Society of Biblical Literature, served on the committee throughout 1964. He contributed to the planning of the program, invited the individual participants, and gave close attention to all of the details of the program.
It is a pleasure to acknowledge the assistance of many persons in the preparation of this volume. The twenty-six authors, who were participants in the programs that have been described, have given splendid cooperation in submitting their papers and granting permission for their publication. Members of the planning committee, named above, have given counsel at several points. Pierce Ellis, a member of the editorial staff of the Abingdon Press, has taken an unusual personal interest in this volume since the time his press first considered publishing it, and has worked closely with me at all stages. Roy Wells, a graduate fellow at Vanderbilt in 1964-65 and now a faculty member at Austin College, gave valuable assistance in preparing several papers for publication. We have attempted to publish the papers virtually as they were delivered in New York, but this was more strictly possible for some than others. Some authors revised their papers slightly in view of the New York discussions. In general, however, the authors have not sought to bring their papers up to date beyond the time they were read.
This volume is dedicated to the memory of Kendrick Grobel, a devoted member of the Society of Biblical Literature and my longtime friend and colleague. He became a member of the Society in 1934. After that he read papers at meetings, contributed articles and book reviews to the Journal, and served in several official positions: New Testament book review editor (1948) and assistant editor (1949) of the Journal, president of the Southern Section (1956), and Secretary of the Society (1962-64). He became the first Executive Secretary when the new position was created in December, 1963, and he died in office on February 2, 1965. He was to have been co-editor of this volume, and he contributed more to the success of the 100th meeting than any other single individual. This volume of papers and the 100th meeting at which they were presented are enduring monuments to his efficient service to the Society and his intense devotion to the cause of biblical scholarship.
J. PHILIP HYATT
Vanderbilt University July 8, 1965
